Staff Profile:Professor Ruth Evans

Name:

Dr Ruth Evans

Job Title:

Associate Professor

Responsibilities:

• Undergraduate Teaching: Culture and Development in Africa, Culture, Identity and Place, Geographies of Development, Dissertation
• SAGES Diversity and Wellbeing committee member, chair of postgraduate Advisory Panels

Areas of Interest:

• Geographies of care and family relations, especially young caregiving, disability, HIV and chronic illness
• 'Bereavement', responses to death and inheritance
• Land politics, food security and gender and intergenerational relations in West Africa
• Sibling relationships and child- and youth-headed households in East Africa
• Geographies of Children, Youth and Families
• Childhood, care and migration in the UK
• Social exclusion/ inclusion and the participation of marginalised groups in research and policy

Postgraduate Supervision:

Ruth is interested in supervising research students on gender and intergenerational relations, bereavement and care or land politics and inheritance.

Recent PhD graduates:

• Agnes Atim: Participatory healthcare delivery in post conflict transition in northern Uganda
• Gudbjörg Ottósdóttir: Care and disability in refugee families in the South-East of England (2015).
• Gary Downing: Disabled young people's socio-sexual networks and transitions in the UK (2015).
• Yaw Adjei-Amoako: Experiences of disability and inclusive development in Ghana: facilitating factors and barriers to participation (2014).
• Caroline Day: Making the Transition to Adulthood in Zambia: A Comparison of the Experiences of Caregiving and Non-Caregiving Youth (2014).
• Phoebe Foy-Phillips: Cultures of young parenting, gendered identities and rurality (2014).

Research groups / Centres:

• Human Geography Research Cluster
• Research Centre for Developing Economics and Emerging Markets (DEEM)
• Walker Institute
• Centre for Food Security

Key facts:

Ruth's research focuses on two central areas of interest: 1) geographies of care and family relations in diverse contexts and 2) land politics and gendered and generational relations. She is currently leading a Leverhulme Trust-funded project, Death in the Family in Urban Senegal: Bereavement, Care and Family Relations and recently led a series of dissemination workshops in Senegal. Download the Research Report and Executive Summary and see the project blog for the press release, Rapport et Résumé (versions français) and more information.

Ruth and colleagues hosted a Symposium on Family Troubles: Care and Change in Diverse Contexts on 16 September 2015, University of Reading. The Symposium included: 21 papers and plenaries on the themes of the meanings of 'family' and (troubling) changes in family lives; care and interdependencies and intergenerational relations in diverse household forms; support for 'troubled' families; responses to death and 'bereavement'; life-limiting illness and family caring practices. Ruth and colleagues presented key findings from their cross-cultural research on Caringscapes, Responses to Death and Family Relations in Urban Senegal. Rebecca Smith, Save the Children, Dr. Avril Maddrell, University of the West of England, Isobel Bremmer, Candle Project, St Christopher's Hospice and Prof. Rosalind Edwards, University of Southampton gave insightful comments about the findings and it led to a stimulating discussion with the audience. For the programme, including slides of plenaries and paper presentations, click programme and see the deathinthefamilyinsenegal for presenters' reflections on the Symposium and further updates.

Ruth recently completed a collaborative research project with colleagues at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana on Access to Land, Food Security and he Intergenerational Transmission of Poverty in the Brong Ahafo region of Ghana (2012-15), including a video here and recently published article in Geoforum (2015). Recent research has focused on Inheritance, Access to Resources and Family Relations in Senegal (2011-12) and Palm Oil, Land Rights and Ecosystems Services in Liberia (2012-13) (reports are available below).

Ruth and Caroline Day led dissemination workshops with young people with caring responsibilities in Zambia in 2014. Watch the video or read more about the research here.

Ruth also completed a study on stigma, gender and generational inequalities in asset inheritance and the intergenerational transmission of poverty in Tanzania and Uganda (with Caroline Day), funded by the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (2010-11). Read more about the project here. From 2008-2010, Ruth conducted a qualitative, participatory study of young people's caring responsibilities for their siblings within child- and youth- headed households in Tanzania and Uganda, funded by the RGS-IBG and the University of Reading (2008-10). (See Research Report and articles below).

Recently published and in press articles focus on achieving and evidencing 'impact' from an ethic of care perspective (Area), gendered and generational struggles over land in rural Ghana and Senegal (Geoforum) amd Senegal (Gender, Place and Culture), the effects of parental death on young people and intergenerational care and responsibility in Senegal (Social and Cultural Geography, 2014), sibling caringscapes and life transitions (Geoforum, 2012; Area, 2011), and safeguarding inherited assets and enhancing the resilience of young people living in child- and youth-headed households in Tanzania and Uganda (African Journal of AIDS Research, 2012), care, disability and HIV in Africa (with Agnes Atim, Third World Quarterly, 2011), caring relations in African migrant families in the UK (Population, Space and Place, 2011) and emotional geographies and an ethics of care within families affected by HIV (with Felicity Thomas) (Emotions, Space and Society, 2009).

Her book (co-authored with Prof. Saul Becker, 2009, The Policy Press), Children Caring for Parents with HIV and AIDS: Global Issues and Policy Responses draws on findings from an ESRC study of the experiences of children caring for parents and relatives with HIV in Tanzania and the UK, conducted while Ruth was based at University of Nottingham (2006-2007). For more information about the research, read the news article: Children caring for parents with HIV and AIDS or download the Stakeholder Report (PDF 1652KB) and Executive Summary (PDF 539KB) .

While based at the University of Hull (2001-2002) and University of Birmingham (2003-2006), Ruth worked on a number of research projects that investigated the social exclusion/ inclusion of children and young people and their participation in policy initiatives in the UK. Ruth's doctoral research at the University of Hull (2002-2004) explored the gendered 'street careers' of young people and the impacts of HIV on children and families in Tanzania.

Ruth is a member of the Editorial Board of the international journals, Gender, Place and Culture and Social and Cultural Geography.

Ruth is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society/Institute of British Geographers.

Publications:

Y

Jump to: 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2002

Number of items: 61.

2020

• Evans, R. (2020) Picturing translocal youth: self-portraits of young Syrian refugees and young people of diverse African heritages in South-East England. Population Space and Place. ISSN 1544-8444 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.2303
• Evans, R. (2020) Interpreting family struggles in West Africa across Majority-Minority world boundaries: tensions and possibilities. Gender, Place & Culture, 27 (5). pp. 717-732. ISSN 1360-0524 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369x.2018.1553861
• Evans, R. (2020) Teaching about female genital mutilation/cutting in Africa: complex questions of culture, “development” and human rights. Journal of Geography in Higher Education, 44 (2). pp. 230-247. ISSN 1466-1845 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2019.1661371

2019

• Evans, R. and Becker, S. (2019) Comparing children's care work across Majority and Minority worlds. In: Twum-Danso Imoh, A., Bourdillon, M. and Meichsner, S. (eds.) Beyond Binaries: Exploring Children's Lives across Worlds. Palgrave. (In Press)
• Ribbens McCarthy, J., Evans, R. and Bowlby, S. (2019) Diversity challenges from urban West Africa: how Senegalese family deaths illuminate dominant understandings of ‘bereavement’. Bereavement Care, 38 (2-3). pp. 83-90. ISSN 1944-8279 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/02682621.2019.1679468
• Mariwah, S., Evans, R. and Antwi, K. B. (2019) Gendered and generational tensions in increased land commercialisation: rural livelihood diversification, changing land use, and food security in Ghana’s Brong-Ahafo region. Geo: Geography and Environment, 6 (1). e00073. ISSN 2054-4049 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/geo2.73
• Evans, R., Bowlby, S., Gottzén, L. and Ribbens McCarthy, J. (2019) Unpacking ‘family troubles’, care and relationality across time and space. Children's Geographies, 17 (5). pp. 501-513. ISSN 1473-3277 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2019.1655139

2018

• Evans, R., Bowlby, S., Ribbens McCarthy, J., Wouango, J. and Kebe, F. (2018) 'It's God's will': consolation and religious meaning-making after a family death in urban Senegal. In: Jedan, C., Maddrell, A. and Venbrux, E. (eds.) Consolationscapes in the face of loss: grief and consolation in space and time. Routledge studies in human geography. Routledge, London. ISBN 9780815358794
• McCarthy, J. R., Evans, R., Bowlby, S. and Wouango, J. (2018) Making sense of family deaths in urban Senegal: diversities, contexts and comparisons. Omega - Journal of Death and Dying. ISSN 0030-2228 doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222818805351

2017

• Evans, R. (2017) Caring after parental death: sibling practices and continuing bonds. In: Horton, J. and Pyer, M. (eds.) Children, young people and care. Spaces of Childhood and Youth Series. Routledge. ISBN 9781138920880
• Holt, L. and Evans, R. (2017) Editorial: geographies of children and young people. Methodological approaches. In: Evans, R., Holt, L. and Skelton, T. (eds.) Methodological Approaches. Geographies of Children and Young People (2). Springer, Singapore, ix-xvi. ISBN 9789812870193
• Evans, R., Holt, L. and Skelton, T., eds. (2017) Methodological approaches. Geographies of Children and Young People, 2. Springer, Singapore, pp454. ISBN 9789812870193
• Evans, R., Ribbens McCarthy, J., Kébé, F., Bowlby, S. and Wouango, J. (2017) Interpreting 'grief' in Senegal: language, emotions and cross-cultural translation in a francophone African context. Mortality, 22 (2). pp. 118-135. ISSN 1469-9885 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13576275.2017.1291602
• Evans, R., Ribbens McCarthy, J., Bowlby, S., Wouango, J. and Kébé, F. (2017) Producing emotionally sensed knowledge? Reflexivity and emotions in researching responses to death. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 20 (6). pp. 585-598. ISSN 1364-5579 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13645579.2016.1257679
• Skovdal, M. and Evans, R. (2017) The emergence of an ethic of care in rural Kenyan schools? Perspectives of teachers and orphaned and vulnerable pupils. Children's Geographies, 15 (2). pp. 160-176. ISSN 1473-3285 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2016.1214236

2016

• Ottosdottir, G. and Evans, R. (2016) Disability and chronic illness. In: Thomas, F. (ed.) Handbook of Migration and Health. Edward Elgar. ISBN 9781784714772 doi: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781784714789
• Evans, R. (2016) Critical reflections on participatory dissemination: coproducing research messages with young people. In: Evans, R., Holt, L. and Skelton, T. (eds.) Methodological Approaches. Geographies of children and young people, 2. Springer, Basel, pp. 67-96. ISBN 9789814585897 doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4585-89-7_27-1
• Evans, R. (2016) Achieving and evidencing research 'impact'? Tensions and dilemmas from an ethic of care perspective. Area, 48 (2). pp. 213-221. ISSN 1475-4762 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/area.12256
• Evans, R., Ribbens McCarthy, J., Bowlby, S., Wouango, J. and Kebe, F., (2016) Evans, R., Ribbens McCarthy, J., Bowlby, S., Wouango, J. and Kébé, F. (2016) Responses to Death, Care and Family Relations in Urban Senegal, Research Report 1, Human Geography Research Cluster, University of Reading. Human Geography Research Cluster Research Report. 1. Other. University of Reading, Reading.
• Evans, R., Adjei-Amoako, Y. and Atim, A. (2016) Disability and HIV: critical intersections. In: Grech, S. and Soldatic, K. (eds.) Disability in the Global South: The Critical Handbook. Springer.
• Evans, R. (2016) Gendered struggles over land: shifting inheritance practices among the Serer in rural Senegal. Gender, Place and Culture, 23 (9). pp. 1360-1375. ISSN 1360-0524 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2016.1160872

2015

• Evans, R., Mariwah, S. and Barima Antwi, K. (2015) Struggles over family land? Tree crops, land and labour in Ghana's Brong-Ahafo region. Geoforum, 67. pp. 24-35. ISSN 0016-7185 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2015.10.006
• Evans, R. (2015) HIV-related stigma, asset inheritance and chronic poverty: vulnerability and resilience of widows and caregiving children and youth in Tanzania and Uganda. Progress in Development Studies, 15 (4). pp. 326-342. ISSN 1477-027X doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/1464993415592740
• Evans, R. (2015) Working with legal pluralism: widowhood, property inheritance and poverty alleviation in urban Senegal. Gender and Development, 23 (1). pp. 77-94. ISSN 1364-9221 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2015.1013678 (special issue: Working on gender equality in urban areas)
• Day, C. and Evans, R. (2015) Caring responsibilities, change and transitions in young people's family lives in Zambia. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, XLVI (1). pp. 137-152.
• Evans, R. and Skovdal, M. (2015) Defining children's rights to work and care in Sub-Saharan Africa: tensions and challenges in policy and practice. In: Kallio, K., Mills, S. and Skelton, T. (eds.) Politics, Citizenship and Rights. Geographies of Children and Young People, 7. Springer. ISBN 9789814585569
• Evans, R. and Atim, A. (2015) HIV care and interdependence in Tanzania and Uganda. In: Barnes, M., Brannelly, P., Ward, L. and Ward, N. (eds.) Ethics of care: critical advances in international perspective. The Policy Press, Chapter 12. ISBN 9781447316510
• Evans, R. (2015) Negotiating intergenerational relations and care in diverse African contexts. In: Vanderbeck, R. and Worth, N. (eds.) Intergenerational Space. Routledge Studies in Human Geography. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 199-213. ISBN 9780415855310

2014

• Evans, R., Mariwah, S. and Barima Antwi, K., (2014) Cashew cultivation, access to land and food security in Brong-Ahafo Region, Ghana: Preventing the intergenerational transmission of poverty. Research Note. 6. Report. Walker Institute, University of Reading, Reading, UK.
• Ottosdottir, G. and Evans, R. (2014) Ethics of care in supporting disabled forced migrants: interactions with professionals and ethical dilemmas in health and social care in the South-East of England. British Journal of Social Work, 44 (Sup.1). pp. 53-69. ISSN 1468-263X doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcu048
• Evans, R. (2014) Parental death as a vital conjuncture? Intergenerational care and responsibility following bereavement in Senegal. Social and Cultural Geography, 15 (5). pp. 547-570. ISSN 1470-1197 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2014.908234
• Evans, R. and Atim, A. (2014) Care, disability and HIV in Africa: diverging or interconnected concepts and practices? In: Soldatic, K. and Meekosha, H. (eds.) The global politics of impairment and disability. TWQ Bookseries. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 69-85. ISBN 9781138776005
• Evans, R. (2014) Disability. In: Desai, V. and Potter, R. B. (eds.) The Companion to Development Studies. Routledge, Abingdon, pp. 466-469. ISBN 9780415826655

2013

• Evans, R. and Holt, L., eds. (2013) Diverse spaces of childhood and youth: gender and other socio-cultural differences. Routledge, pp208. ISBN 9780415834377
• Evans, R. and Griffiths, G., (2013) Palm oil, land rights and ecosystem services in Gbarpolu County, Liberia. Research Note. 3. Walker Institute for Climate System Research, University of Reading, Reading.
• Evans, R. (2013) Young people’s caring relations and transitions within families affected by HIV. In: Ribbens McCarthy, J., Hooper, C.-A. and Gillies, V. (eds.) Family Troubles? Exploring Changes and Challenges in the Family Lives of Children and Young People. The Policy Press, pp. 233-244. ISBN 9781447304432
• Evans, R. (2013) Children as caregivers. In: Handbook of Child Wellbeing. Springer, pp. 1893-1916. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-9063-8_173

2012

• Evans, R. (2012) Sibling caringscapes: time–space practices of caring within youth-headed households in Tanzania and Uganda. Geoforum, 43 (4). pp. 824-835. ISSN 0016-7185 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.02.004
• Evans, R., (2012) Inheritance, access to resources and poverty in Serer families in Senegal. Research Note. 1. Walker Institute for Climate System Research, University of Reading, Reading. pp23.
• Potter, R., Conway, D., Evans, R. and Lloyd-Evans, S. (2012) Key concepts in development geography. Key Concepts in Human Geography . Sage Publications, London, pp288. ISBN 9780857025845
• Evans, R. (2012) Safeguarding inheritance and enhancing the resilience of orphaned young people living in child- and youth-headed households in Tanzania and Uganda. African Journal of AIDS Research, 11 (3). pp. 177-189. ISSN 1608-5906

2011

• Evans, R. and Holt, L. (2011) Diverse spaces of childhood and youth: gender and other socio-cultural differences. Children's Geographies, 9 (3-4). pp. 277-284. ISSN 1473-3277 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14733285.2011.595902
• Evans, R. (2011) Young caregiving and HIV in the UK: caring relationships and mobilities in African migrant families. Population, Space and Place, 17 (4). pp. 338-360. ISSN 1544-8444 doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.583
• Evans, R. and Day, C., (2011) Inheritance, poverty and HIV/AIDS: experiences of widows and orphaned youth heading households in Tanzania and Uganda. Working Paper. Chronic Poverty Research Centre, Manchester. pp57. ISBN 9781906433918
• Evans, R. and Atim, A. (2011) Care, disability and HIV in East Africa: diverging or interconnected concepts and practices? Third World Quarterly, 32 (8). pp. 1437-1454. ISSN 1360-2241 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2011.604517
• Evans, R. (2011) ‘We are managing our own lives...’: life transitions and care in sibling-headed households affected by AIDS in Tanzania and Uganda. Area, 43 (4). pp. 384-396. ISSN 1475-4762 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4762.2010.00954.x

2010

• Evans, R. (2010) Children's caring roles and responsibilities within the family in Africa. Geography Compass, 4 (10). pp. 1477-1496. ISSN 1749-8198 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-8198.2010.00386.x
• Evans, R., (2010) The experiences and priorities of young people who care for their siblings in Tanzania and Uganda. Technical Report. University of Reading, School of Human and Environmental Sciences, Department of Geography and Environmental Science, Reading. pp26.

2009

• Evans, R. and Thomas, F. (2009) Emotional interactions and an ethic of care: caring relations in families affected by HIV and AIDS. Emotions, Space and Society, 2 (2). pp. 111-119. ISSN 1755-4586 doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emospa.2009.08.003
• Evans, R. and Becker, S. (2009) Children caring for parents with HIV and AIDS: global issues and policy responses. The Policy Press, Bristol. ISBN 9781847420220

2008

• Pinnock, K. and Evans, R. (2008) Developing responsive preventative practices: key messages from children's and families' experiences of the Children's Fund. Children and Society, 22. pp. 86-98. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2007.00081.x
• Evans, R. and Spicer, N. (2008) Is participation prevention? A blurring of discourses in children's preventative initiatives in the UK. Childhood-a Global Journal of Child Research, 15 (1). pp. 50-73. ISSN 0907-5682 doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0907568207086835
• Coad, J. and Evans, R. (2008) Reflections on practical approaches to involving children and young people in the data analysis process. Children & Society, 22 (1). pp. 41-52. ISSN 0951-0605 doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1099-0860.2006.00062.x

2007

• Evans, R. and Becker, S., (2007) Hidden young carers: the experiences, needs and resilience of children caring for parents and relatives with HIV/AIDS in Tanzania and the UK: stakeholder report. University of Nottingham, School of Sociology and Social Policy, Nottingham.
• Evans, R. and Plumridge, G. (2007) Inclusion, social networks and resilience: strategies, practices and outcomes for disabled children and their families. Social Policy and Society, 6 (2). pp. 231-241. ISSN 1475-3073 doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746406003496
• Evans, R. and Pinnock, K. (2007) Promoting resilience and protective factors in the Children's Fund: supporting children and young people's pathways towards social inclusion? Journal of Children and Poverty, 13 (1). pp. 21-36. ISSN 1469-9389 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10796120601171211

2006

• Spicer, N. and Evans, R. (2006) Developing children and young people’s participation in strategic processes: the experience of the Children’s Fund Initiative. Social Policy and Society, 5 (2). pp. 177-188. ISSN 1475-3073 doi: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1474746405002861
• Evans, R. (2006) Negotiating social identities: the influence of gender, age and ethnicity on young people’s ‘Street Careers’ in Tanzania. Children's Geographies, 4 (1). pp. 109-128. ISSN 1473-3277 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14733280600577533

2005

• Evans, R. (2005) Social networks, migration, and care in Tanzania. Journal of Children and Poverty, 11 (2). pp. 111-129. ISSN 1079-6126 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10796120500195527

2004

• Evans, R. (2004) Tanzanian childhoods: street children’s narratives of ‘home’. Journal of Contemporary African Studies, 22 (1). pp. 69-92. ISSN 1469-9397 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/0258900042000179616

2002

• Evans, R. (2002) Poverty, HIV, and barriers to education: street children's experiences in Tanzania. Gender and Development, 10 (3). pp. 51-62. ISSN 1364-9221 doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/13552070215916

This list was generated on Thu Aug 6 10:33:05 2020 UTC.

Qualifications:

BA (Nottingham), MA and PhD (Hull).